Whooping it up over here!

2 of my kids and my niece came down with a cough this week.  It came out of nowhere with no cold to link it to.  Ephraim's had a weird sound when he coughed, but Elsa's sounded just loud and obnoxious.  I began to suspect that something other than a cold was causing their cough. 

We took my little niece Esther in to the Dr first since she had it the worst and requested she be tested for Pertussis.  The Dr didn't believe she had it, but agreed to test her anyway.  Sure enough, it came back positive for Pertussis.

Yesterday I spent the day packing up some stuff and wanted to take some of it to the storage unit we rented.  So we threw the kids in the car and headed into town.  They were just going to stay in the car, so I was not focused on how they looked.  While on the way there, I had to call the Dr's office to ask if they would prescribe the antibiotics over the phone for prophylaxis treatment.  They required that I bring the 2 kids in to be swabbed.  Great.

Picture this ~
Adin: Dirty sweats and too large rubber boots
Elsa: Bright pink dirty sweats and pink flip flops
Isaac: Superman costume with padded muscles and brown sandals
Ephraim: Clean, but no shoes or socks

Yeah, we were looking good.  We looked like the typical backwoods family that can't get it together.  Negligently not getting their vaccines and THEN begging for medical services.  Nice.

The truth is, we're a family that chooses not to vaccinate because I would rather my children have healthy immune systems that are not manufactured.  I want them to be able to naturally fight off diseases.  The ones they can't handle on their own, then we are able to access medical treatment.  In reality, I went to the Dr because I want to make sure we don't spread it around to others.  If it wasn't so contagious AND I didn't have to be around people right now, I would actually let this disease run it's course.  I don't like using antibiotics or meds at all. 

The last time we had an "infectious disease" was almost 3 years ago when we had the chicken pox.  That time was worth it for me because I wanted them to have lifetime immunity.  This time, the cough is a bummer, but I guess they'll get lifetime immunity also.  At this point, I'm mostly I'm worried about it ruining the last couple of weeks the kids have with their friends and cousins.  That would be the real loss here.